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13 figures

Emma Curtis Hopkins

1849 – 1925

The 'teacher of teachers' who trained the founders of Unity, Divine Science and Religious Science.

United States·New Thought · Education

John Dewey

1859 – 1952

Pragmatist whose learning-by-doing reshaped schools on every continent.

United States·Philosophy · Education

Benedict Lust

1872 – 1945

German émigré who founded American naturopathy and its first college in 1902.

United States·Integrative Medicine · Education

John Rawls

1921 – 2002

A Theory of Justice: fairness derived from behind the veil of ignorance.

United States·Philosophy · Law

Paulo Freire

1921 – 1997

Pedagogy of the Oppressed rewrote literacy teaching for the global south.

Brazil·Philosophy · Education

Martin Luther King Jr.

1929 – 1968

Letter from Birmingham Jail and a movement that rewrote American law.

United States·Peace · Philosophy · LiteratureNobel

Rachel Naomi Remen

b. 1938

Built The Healer's Art curriculum, taught in medical schools on four continents.

United States·Integrative Medicine · Education

Óscar Arias

b. 1940

Brokered peace across five Central American wars.

Costa Rica·PeaceNobel

Andrew Weil

b. 1942

Founded the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and trained a generation of fellows.

United States·Integrative Medicine · Education

Martha Nussbaum

b. 1947

Capabilities approach to justice, and a defence of emotion in public reason.

United States·Philosophy · Human Rights

Joseph Pizzorno

b. 1948

Co-founded Bastyr University, the first accredited natural-medicine university in the United States.

United States·Functional Medicine · Education · Medicine

Juan Manuel Santos

b. 1951

Ended a 52-year civil war by negotiated accord.

Colombia·PeaceNobel

Rigoberta Menchú

b. 1959

Indigenous rights advocate whose testimonio reached the world.

Guatemala·Peace · LiteratureNobel